Email is dead … and never been so alive!

When a few years ago RSS came up, mash-ups were born and networking sites became a hype, some people claimed it was the slow death of email.

In fact, this is what happened. When you look to Xobni, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google search, … what do they all have in common? Yes, email messages. It is nice to have all those new web 2.0 features, but we still prefer that notification via our email. So whatever is happening on all those technologies, the email message is still present and even more than ever.

What is the difference between now en then?
We decide what we want to get in that email and that’s a whole different story!

– Email marketing in Europe has an opt-in regime, so you will have to ask for permission.
– Web 2.0 is all about getting what you really want, whether it be in RSS, search or networking.
– More and more newsletters are asking for your preferences.
– ISP’s are monitoring your reputation.

It’s still amazes me that the US approves an opt-out regime and therefore is not listening to the audience. “Give us what we want, when we want it and if we approve it!”

We should all come to the insight that email is certainly not dead, but if we still want it to survive in the future, permission is of vital importance. Relevance and trust are now more important than ever.